Group D Preview- Greece

The current European champions are back but this time the element of surprise will not be there for them. With successful German manager Otto Rehhagel in the team and the same spine of players with addition of good young players like Torosidis, Gekas, Samaras and Salpingidis signs of optimism are there to be seen for the greeks. Goalkeeper Nikopolidis had an excellent season as well as a lot of the defenders but Haristeas's poor form in the Bundesliga is a major concern for the manager. They also employ a 4-3-3 formation that becomes a 4-5-1 when defending but midfiled has been a problem area with choices being very thin for Rehhagel. Should they qualify through their group anything can happen

PROS:
1)Solid team with the same spine as 2004
2)Good defenders with a lot of British like players in Katsouranis, Patsatzoglou and Torosidis doing a lot of running
3)Lots of combinations can take place upfront with a handful of different striker styles-clinical striker in Gekas

CONS:
1) No real cover (depth) in midfield
2)Element of surprise is now gone
3)Central Defenders (apart from Kyrgiakos) are all on the slow side




Goalkeepers

1 Antonis Nikopolidis
12 Kostas Chalkias
13 Alexandros Tzorvas

Defenders

2 Giourkas Seitaridis
3 Christos Patsatzoglou
4 Nikos Spiropoulos
5 Traianos Dellas
11 Loukas Vintra
15 Vassilis Torosidis
16 Sotiris Kyrgiakos
18 Giannis Goumas
19 Paraskevas Antzas

Midfielders

6 Angelos Basinas
8 Stelios Giannakopoulos
10 Giorgos Karagounis
21 Kostas Katsouranis
22 Alexandros Tziolis

Forwards

7 Giorgos Samaras
9 Angelos Charisteas
14 Dimitris Salpingidis
17 Fanis Gekas
20 Giannis Amanatidis
23 Nikos Liberopoulos